Neocron: NeoCrack? Not quite, but still good. (Bargain Bin W/O)
Written: Mar 01 '04 (Updated Mar 16 '04)
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Pros: Interesting and fun gameplay, visually stunning environments, good story.
Cons: Monthly fees and occasional program crashes.
The Bottom Line: What have you found in the Bargain Bin lately?
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| rice75's Full Review: Neocron PC |
When Ultima Online was released it was like a dream come true for me. I had always dreamed of a computer game where a persistent world existed and I could role-play as a noble paladin, living in a fantasy world, slaying dragons and hording treasure. UO was the first MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) and I was overwhelmed by the possibilities. It was ambitious for its time and is still loved by many loyal players even if Everquest has moved in on its turf and become a phenomenon unto itself. Even though Ultima Online held such an allure, I never played it because I couldn’t justify the monthly fees. These fees are definitely what have deterred a lot of gamers from playing MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) and I can’t blame them. Paying 12-15 dollars a month to play with others can seem quite steep. So when I came across Neocron, I was wary. I knew it was an MMORPG so it was going to cost me if I wanted to stick to it. On the other hand, it offered six weeks of free play, which was something I couldn’t pass up. I also picked the game up at CompUSA for $5.88 in the bargain bin (hence the write-off) so it was a win-win situation. Here has been my experience.
First Impressions
Any game can wow a player right off the bat and if you’re going to make an investment in a MMOG, you’ve got to be able to see past those initial ohhs and ahhs. Therefore I've done this review a little differently. I'm writing this section about a week into playing Neocron. Once I've played a little more I’ll follow up on what first impressed me and what I initially disliked.
For a little background, Neocron is set in a futuristic, sci-fi world where parts of the world are safe and governed by a man named Lioon Reza and other, more seedy, areas where gangs run the show. Outside of town there are wastelands galore with monsters and bad guys all over the place. You are a new guy, a “runner”. Your name explains exactly what you do. You run. A lot. At first it’s away from bats and swarms of bees, but eventually you’ll be running missions for anyone who’ll fill up your bank with Neocron Credits. Along the way you’ll see the sights of Neocron and become embroiled in a political battle that may be over your head. For now you can just relax and worry about numero uno, yourself.
As with any role-playing game, you start off by creating an avatar, your online alter-ego. Character creation is pretty simple. There are four basic types of runners to begin with and each of these four has different sub-classes. This choice won’t affect your character too much, but if you know you want to make a melee based fighter, there’s no point in picking a spy. Go with the tanker and get your melee on. The creation process also includes customizing the look of your avatar but the choices are pretty slim. Nothing too fancy here.
Once you’ve made a character and chosen a subclass, you choose a faction. Again, the choice won’t set your destiny in motion but if you want to be a gangster who hustles people for money then it won’t do you any good to align yourself with the City Administration faction. They’re goodie-two-shoes and you want to be found in the less desirable parts of town. You’ll be better off with the Tsunami Syndicate or the Black Dragon Clan.
You’ll start out with the bare minimum of equipment: a belt and a knife. You start out in the wastelands with a thousand credits in your pocket and no idea how you got there. Someone will give you an assignment but you’ll be much too weak to handle it (which I found out the hard way). The first thing you’ll want to do get to your apartment. Transportation is handled by Gene Replicators, a sort of self-warping device. Your apartment has one so once you find one in the Wastelands you can jump in and get zoomed home. Your faction will set you up in a nice little starter apartment which will become your base of operations. You will have a few cabinets to store items, a computer to tap into the CityCom program, and a portable inventory called the "GoGuardian". These nifty gadgets can hold a limited number of items but they can be accessed from all over the city. This makes it so you don’t have to lug everything around. Once you get settled in, you can get started by exploring your surroundings, find your faction’s headquarters (usually close to your apartment) and you can begin killing some monsters. The game mushrooms from there.
Gameplay is very diverse. There are different classes to choose from and subclasses in each of these. Since my time has been limited I've only played as one class, the spy. The spy has higher affinities to intelligence and dexterity (the other stat categories are strength, constitution, and PSI-power) so these skills level-up faster than the others. That’s one thing I like about Neocron's skill system: each skill gains experience points at different rates, based on your actions and how often you use them. Since I use my gun a lot my dexterity goes up (it's at level 36) while I never use PSI-power (it's at level 2). For my character, I'm concentrating on pistol combat, research, and constructing. Pistol combat is self-explanatory, I'm sure, but the other two might not be. Players of other MMORPGs are familiar with the term "crafting", which basically consists of gathering raw materials and "crafting" them together into something useful. In Everquest you could craft materials into a bow or arrows, for example. Some players avoid this as it is tedious and time consuming but I enjoy it immensely. "Crafting" in Neocron can be rather complex. You have at your disposal four tools that every crafter needs: A salvager, recycler, research tool, and constructor. Raw materials abound in the world, from scrap metal and computer parts to animal skins and poison glands. If you have the right recipe, you can put everything into your recycler and have a certain chemical spit out. If you pick up a junky old gun off a mutant you can throw it into the salvage tool and it will extract any material of value. This is one way to obtain the various parts needed to construct something useful and is part and parcel to crafting. Another aspect of crafting involves the construction of items. If you find a gun to use, chances are it's in pretty bad shape without any type of "powerups". In Neocron, you can pop the weapon into your research tool, along with a datacube to store the information, and research the item to extract a blueprint. The blueprint tells you what parts you need to construct the item. After you gather the necessary parts, you pop them into your construction tool, along with the blueprints, and out pops a new item, such as a gun. If your construction skill is high enough, there's a probability that the gun with be of higher quality (i.e. it does more damage or shoots faster) and it could also include expansion slots, allowing you to modify the gun to enhance it even further. It takes time to pop something into a tool and wait but it is highly satisfactory to see what you get. At least I like it.
In order to keep you busy, you are provided a limitless number of missions. Scattered throughout the city and in your apartment are "CityCom Stations". Everything you need to know can be found here, including in-game emails and forums which can be very helpful. You can also find missions to complete. Initially you'll complete missions assigned to you by your faction but as you progress you'll be able to do missions for other factions as well. There are five difficulty rankings for the missions: very easy, easy, normal, hard, and very hard. The rewards (both money and experience points) are based on the mission's difficulty. The majority of the missions are extermination quests (kill five sewer rats), fed-ex quests (take this package to so-and-so), recycling quests (get me five Metal-D canisters), research quests and the like. In some MMOGs these quests can be tedious but for a crafter like me they are enjoyable. I think the mission system is well executed. There is also an over-arching storyline, explaining how the different factions interact with each other but I've side-stepped most of the social and political aspects of the game, content to research and construct. Needless to say, you won't run out of things to do.
Graphically, Neocron looks great in most places but there are definitely areas that were passed over with little attention to detail. As with most games, you play from a first-person view and in Neocron they have a pretty decent engine that runs very smoothly. The environment of Neocron is done well. It's has a futuristic flair that is reminiscent of Total Recall. Each area has a distinct look and feel. The center of town near the Neocron Police Department appears sterile and dry next to the red-light district of Pepper Park. The graphics do a great job of building the right mood and feeling. The character models lack, on the other hand. They look chunky and very similar to each other. Variations are possible but they don’t go far enough. A little more customization would have been nice. The monsters and bad guys are done well with enough blood to make most shooters happy.
Sound is a mixed bag. The environment and ambience sounds are perfect. There were times when I was down in the sewers and a swarm of flies buzzed by and I had to look around to see if there were flies buzzing by my desk light. It took me a few times to realize that it was the game, not flies in my basement. The music, on the other hand is forgettable. It has a familiar futuristic feel but doesn't do it for me. I usually play with the music turned off.
With so many options for MMOG players to choose from, there aren't many players populating the Neocron world. On a Saturday evening there are about 300 players in the Saturn Realm (an English speaking realm) where I play. This unfortunately leads to a feeling of isolation but there are still a few people with whom to go adventuring. Fortunately, the game is dotted with hundreds of NPCs so you never feel completely alone. You can always find a CopBot to talk to (even though they don’t say much). The people that do play are pretty cool to play with, there aren't many immature players that go around and kill everyone so you can usually let your guard down and trust most people. Plus, with a steep learning curve, there are players who are more than willing to help out a newbie learn the ropes. All in all I've enjoyed these first few days of playing Neocron.
Looking back
After playing for a few weeks now, I am torn. I am still playing Neocron regularly, I've met a few cool players and I'm enjoying everything about it. I still feel pretty much the same way I did when I first started playing, only now as my six weeks of free play is approaching its end I'm not sure I am going to start paying the monthly fees. There are a few games on the horizon (City of Heroes, World of Warcraft) that I would probably be more inclined to actually pay for, so I may hold off on Neocron. I'll have to wait and see.
For now, Neocron has been a great Bargain Bin find. It is definitely a game that will suck your time away without you even realizing you've been playing for so long, so I would give it four stars. It's a solid game that can be had a great price.
This is my entry in a write-off I'm hosting called the Bargain Bin Write-off. The idea is to review a video game (PC or console) that you found in the "Bargain Bin" (or at a bargain bin price) and tell us if it was a sleeper or if it deserved to stay in the bargain bin. If you're interested in participating, leave me a comment and I'll add you to the list.
Participants
krial - Majesty Gold Edition (PC)
kjell1979 - Tecmo Bowl (NES)
DrDevience - hopefully something!
StarSoldier1 - Gunstar Heroes (Sega Genesis)
tdswift89 - Yar's Revenge (GBC)
awoolcott - ESPN Final Round Golf (GBA)
Pyanfar - Rune (maybe?)
JiggyJay - Freekstyle (PS2)
Horhay - Backstreet Billiards (PS)
carl_lazarevic - Deus Ex (PC)
kelly60 - Crystal Key (PC)
Recommended:
Yes
Version Played: Released
Operating System: Windows
CPU: AMD Athlon K7
CPU Speed (MHz): over 600
RAM (MB): More than 256
Graphics Card Family: Other
Best Played With/Intended For: Multiplayer
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Epinions.com ID:
rice75
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Member: Tony Rice
Location: Columbus, OH
Reviews written: 73
Trusted by: 66 members
About Me:
Resident Evil 4 will own your soul. Do not resist.
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